"You bought the auger for Martinez and told him where to bore the holes?"
"Yes."
"And the key to the alleyway door?"
"I got a duplicate key—through Dubois. Anything else?"
"It's all very clever," reflected M. Paul, "but—isn't it too clever? Too complicated? Why didn't you get rid of this billiard player in some simpler way?"
"A natural question," agreed De Heidelmann-Bruck. "I could have done it easily in twenty ways—twenty stupid safe ways. But don't you see that is what I didn't want? It was necessary to suppress Martinez, but, in suppressing him as I did, there was also good sport. And when a man has everything, Coquenil, good sport is mighty rare."
"I see, I see," murmured the detective. "And you let Alice live all these years for the same reason?"
"Yes."
"The wood-carver game diverted you?"
"Precisely. It put a bit of ginger into existence." He paused, and half closing his eyes, added musingly: "I'll miss it now. And I'll miss the zest of fighting you."